Fox Business Network opens a window

Commentary: Strategy becomes clearer before Oct. 15 launch

By

JonFriedman

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- A-ha! That's what went through my mind last week when I read a press release identifying the anchors who will appear on the Fox Business Network, which makes its debut Oct. 15.

There has been a lot of speculation about what the new network would look like. Would the Fox Business Network feature an array of new faces? Or alumni of fellow business-news channel CNBC? Or the usual suspects: Fox News mainstays?

To the chagrin of media critics, Fox News, the cable-news ratings leader for five years, had done a commendable job of keeping our watchful eyes away from the laboratory. Last week, however, it opened the window a crack and gave the public a glimpse into how it intends to attract viewers.

A peek inside

It shouldn't come as a surprise that the business channel will continue to stress the Fox brand and do many of the things that have worked at Fox News.

Roger Ailes, the CEO of Fox News, and Kevin Magee, its executive vice president, named five anchors: David Asman, host of "Forbes on Fox"; Cheryl Casone, Fox News business reporter; Rebecca Gomez, founding Fox News business correspondent; Dagen McDowell, a Fox journalist; and Stuart Varney, a veteran of CNN and CNBC. Varney often substitutes on "Your World" for Neil Cavuto. See full column on Cavuto's challenges.

Do you detect a pattern here? Fox intends to build on what has previously succeeded.

I suspect that this announcement will be followed soon by others in which Fox makes hires from outside the company. If anyone thinks Fox can't woo talent from other organizations, guess again. By all indications, the network was deluged with job seekers. Even I was getting calls from fellow journalists and friends asking me for advice on how to apply for positions.

News Corp.
NWS, +1.43%
which owns Fox News, is in the process of acquiring Dow Jones
DJ
which owns MarketWatch, the publisher of this column.

The anti-CNBC

Media observers (including this one) expect the Fox Business Network to present a product on day one that will look and sound like the anti-CNBC.

When it comes to CNBC, a General Electric
GE, -0.80%
property and Fox Business Network's main rival, there is no middle ground: People either love or hate it. Its fans appreciate interviews with newsmakers, its ability to report a breaking story quickly, and the familiarity of "Squawk Box" every morning.

Familiarity, it's said, can also breed contempt. CNBC's detractors allege that the network has gotten dull and complacent. For better or worse, CNBC has seldom had to sweat over a competitor with the resources and expertise to challenge its stranglehold on the cable-business-news market.

Most damaging, perhaps, are the accusations by some that CNBC is out of touch with individual investors' needs. These critics say the network has overlooked the interests of Main Street by getting cozy with Wall Street. (Too cozy, if you believe the critics of star CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo.)

It shouldn't come as a surprise that the business channel will continue to stress the Fox brand and do many of the things that have worked at Fox News.

This is where you can expect Ailes, the architect of CNBC's success who also built Fox News, and Magee to strike. In addition, Cavuto, Alexis Glick and others at Fox have also worked at CNBC, which raises the stakes. Fox's rivalry with CNBC is more than just business; it could be personal, too.

As soon as Fox smells a weakness at CNBC, it will work hard to exploit it. Remember a decade ago when critics of CNN, owned by Time Warner
TWX, -28.57%
dubbed it "The Clinton News Network" because, they had concluded, its reporting favored Bill Clinton's administration? It's fair to say that plenty of those folks now watch the Fox News Channel.

Fox Business is also staying true to what succeeded at Fox News: creating many of its own stars. That game plan paid dividends as Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Shep Smith and Cavuto, among others, became household names.

Meanwhile, media pundits have speculated that Liz Claman, the popular anchor who resigned from CNBC a few months ago, would join Fox's business channel. (Fox has remained characteristically mum.) Claman had a big following -- whose ranks included a certain Oracle of Omaha -- and her arrival would help Fox Business gain quick credibility.

Even without Claman, Fox can count on a loyal audience. Rivals accuse Fox News of being too chatty or too confrontational, and for having a right-wing bias. But the naysayers respect its ability to tap a sizable, affluent market that, for one reason or another, had eluded other channels. Fox News offered disenfranchised viewers something distinct.

For now, Fox Business Network executives must adjust their programming to an audience that's obsessed with its wallets. As the song goes, money changes everything -- because so much is at stake. It's one thing to argue about presidential candidates, who seem remote. But when people have money invested in the stock market, they want very much to understand the headlines.

Because financial news can seem dry at times, it will be essential for the new channel to serve up a lively diet of analysts who can tell viewers why something happened and help them figure out what will come next.

CNBC has long been virtually synonymous with cable-TV business news. Many of its journalists are TV stars. Media analysts wonder, though, whether CNBC has had things its own way for too long and could struggle to fend off the challenger.

To topple CNBC, the Fox Business Network will have to show it truly can be the anti-CNBC.

MEDIA WEB QUESTION OF THE DAY: Will you watch the Fox Business Network?

MONDAY REPORT CARD: The New York Times
NYT, +2.20%
had some explaining to do last week. It stressed that an advertising discount for MoveOn.org didn't represent any political leanings. Well, OK, but when a newspaper has to utter that sort of statement in the first place, it can't be a good sign.

READERS RESPOND to my column about presidential candidate Fred Thompson (see full column): "Uh, I admit I'm a novice at this writing to a distinguished columnist like yourself, but in a few words: 'you stink!' If this is what columnists get paid for, I'm going back to J school & get a degree in political-babble reporting." -- Steve Dansker

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